"Tony Stark can't answer the phone right now..." The voicemail said over Pepper's own phone.
She angrily hits the end call button and grips the device hard, as if trying to crush it. Her fingers turn red and it hurts her hand. She raises it in the air and contemplates throwing it, but sanity takes control. She lowers the device trying to force herself to calm down. It's not working.
"Any luck?" James Rhodes asks, as she comes rushing out of a nearby conference room.
Pepper looks up, trying to hide her frustration, face still red with anger. "Still not answering." She tells her. "FRIDAY can't locate him either, but his last whereabouts were the Avengers complex right before this all happened."
"Do you think he's still there?" Rhodes asks.
"He has to be." Pepper responds, "Where else could he be?" Her knuckles are white from continuing to grip the phone so hard.
"Are you able to access the cameras?" James recommends as she watches people walk by.
"No," She tells her. "They've been inoperational for some time, due to the place being empty."
"Is it possible the system doesn't recognize him because he's changed also?" Rhodes offers, as a solution.
"That's possible..." Pepper thinks about it for a moment. "But he'd still be able to answer his damned phone..." Pepper grips hers even tighter. "Unless he's ignoring me..." she frowns angrily. "Because he did this!" She raises her voice.
"Alright, now calm down." Rhodes interrupts her thoughts. "The last thing we need is for you to go green also."
"Green?" Pepper asks, confused.
"Hulk out." Rhodes fills in the blank. "Especially with General Ross wandering around here somewhere.
"Hulk out?" Pepper looks down, lost in thought. "That's it. Bruce might be with him."
"Bruce?" This time Rhodes is confused.
"Yeah, she is obsessed with him."
"Obsessed?" Rhodes looks shocked. "That doesn't worry you?"
"No," Pepper responds without hesitation. "She's not really his type."
James Rhodes takes a moment to process this information while Pepper taps her phone. "FRIDAY, are you able to locate Bruce Banner? Is she with anyone in the Avengers complex?"
"Scanners indicate two people in the building, Ms. Scott Lang and Dr. Banner." FRIDAY responds.
"Eureka!" Pepper responds. "Call the nearest monitor and put me on video."
"Calling." FRIDAY says.
At the Avengers compound *
Bruce is sitting in an oversized coat in her female form. She looks lost in thought and on the verge of tears. She is lightly nodding as Scott Lang panic rambles.
"I don't know if she wants kids..." She tells Bruce. "I don't know if I can handle this! What's Hank going to say? Or Janet? I mean it's not like I got THEIR daughter pregnant..."
Bruce continues nodding somewhat oblivious to the conversation.
"Incoming phone call from Pepper Potts." A large nearby monitor declares loudly as it lights up.
This causes both Scott Lang and Bruce to jump. They look at the screen, then each other, and begin to panic.
"Should we answer it?" Scott asks.
Before Bruce can say anything, the screen lights up and Pepper's face fills the screen. She is trying to adjust her phone so she is centered.
"Hello, can you hear me?" Pepper calls. "Bruce, are you there?"
Bruce shuts her eyes for a moment, wondering if she can hide her sadness. She knows she can't stall, so she stands up and approaches the screen. "Yeah, I'm here Pepper." She answers.
Pepper can see both Bruce and Scott Lang on her phone screen. She immediately notices that neither of them has changed back. She interprets this as another clue that they had something to do with the latest swap, assuming they didn't revert by choice. It adds fuel to her already built up rage.
"Where's Tony!" She asks, significantly more angry than she intended.
"He's not here." Bruce responds. "He left."
"He?!" Pepper asks, anger building.
"No, sorry." Bruce looks down, embarrassed. "She... She left."
Hearing this, calms Pepper, but only a little. She tries to let go of her anger fully, but still has strong suspicions. She notices that both Scott and Bruce are wearing specialized suits. "Did you do this?" She frowns.
"Pepper... I..." Bruce hesitates for just a little too long.
"Jesus Christ! You did do this!" Pepper doesn't let her finish. "What the hell were you thinking? Why on Earth didn't you warn anyone?"
"It was them?" James Rhodes asks off camera.
"Pepper, don't blame Tony." Bruce pleads. "We were only trying to help... I was trying to help."
"Trying to help?" Pepper snaps, suddenly feeling emotional. "How could this possibly be, trying to help? Do you have any idea how much trouble, chaos, and destruction this caused the last time?"
"Bruce looks down in a slow wince." She feels guilty, sad, and somewhat amused that she is already being reprimanded a third time for what she did. She is starting to wonder how many more times this will occur.
"I thought this through Pepper." She responds, somewhat quietly.
"That's great, Bruce!" The video shakes as Pepper does some unseen gesture. "What difference does it make, when all you do is what Tony wants?"
"Tony didn't want this!" Bruce speaks up.
"Don't make excuses for him, Bruce." The phone steadies as Pepper moves it awkwardly close to her face. "None of this would be happening if it wasn't for what Tony wanted. He knew exactly what he was doing."
"No, it was..."
"This is exactly how he always is! Doing whatever he wants and making everyone else who cares about him clean up after him." Pepper's face disappears as Bruce and Scott can only assume she is flailing her arms with gestures. "He doesn't think about the emotional and mental damage these decisions cause on other people."
"Pepper..." Bruce calls out.
"He's just a selfish man-child who only cares about what he wants, and I enable him. We enable him, Bruce! You know that?" Pepper's face briefly steadies in the camera before disappearing again. "I should have known. In fact, I've known it from the start. Except I always thought he was gonna get himself killed or get someone else killed or..."
"Pepper..." James Rhodes can be heard trying to break Pepper out of her full on rant.
Bruce doesn't know what to do as she cannot get a single word in. She looks up to Scott for help, hoping she can offer a solution.
Scott can see the worry and confusion in Bruce's face but only shrugs her shoulders. She contemplates letting Pepper get it out of her system, but wonders how long that could take. It reminds her of her own mother, which draws her mind back to her own dilemma. 'Mother...' she thinks.
Scott's face lights up as she suddenly has an idea. She rushes past Bruce and stands in front of the monitor declaring, "Pepper, I'm pregnant!"
"What!" Rhodes can be heard shouting.
This does the trick, completely breaking Pepper out of her thought process. She has to literally shake her head to get a hold of her thoughts. "What?" she mirrors Rhodes, but a little less shocked.
Scott looks down and blushes. "I'm pregnant, Pepper."
"Wait.. that's..." Pepper is legitimately flabbergast now. She contemplates asking how, but somehow she realizes that would be silly. "Hope's?" She settled on asking.
"Yeah..." Scott replies. "He doesn't know yet. We just found out."
Bruce looks at Scott and has to fight back tears of gratitude.
"That's... That's wonderful Scott." Pepper's head is now reeling in another direction, as despite knowing it was possible for some time now, it never occurred to her that this could happen. She suddenly remembers all the gender swaps that occurred late due to pregnancies and it dawns on her. "Is that why you're still a woman?"
"It would seem so." Scott is not sure why, but for the first time, she is actually feeling happy about the news. "At least, that's what Dr. Strange thought."
"Dr. Strange is there?"
"No, not anymore. He was pretty angry, so he didn't stick around." Scott lightly chuckles.
"Angry?" Pepper wonders. "Why was he angry?"
"Well..." Scott replies. "It's a long story, but it's partially the same reason you're upset."
"You mean everything that's happening right now?" Pepper asks.
"Yeah..." Scott says, scratching her head. "He was more upset with how we did it, not so much what we did."
Pepper's eyebrows scrunch. "I'm not sure I get what you are trying to say. You didn't hurt anyone, did you? Should I be worried?"
"No, nothing like that." Scott reassures her. "But you might want to sit down for what I am about to tell you."
Pepper still looks very concerned, she turns to look at Rhodes who just shrugs her shoulders with equal confusion and worry.
"Wait!" Bruce interrupts, "before you get into that, there is something important I have to say."
Pepper huffs with agitation, still upset with Bruce.
"This is for both of you," Scott seems a little surprised that Bruce gestures toward her as well, "and you to Rhodes, if you're still listening."
"I'm here." James Rhodes replies.
"I think this will put everyone's minds at ease." Bruce starts. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes to collect her thoughts before continuing. "The person who made the wish, this time.." She opens her eyes again and looks at Pepper on the monitor. "That was me."
Pepper frowns angrily, but chooses to let Bruce continue.
"When I made the wish, I made sure to concentrate on nobody getting hurt," Bruce adds.
Pepper feels a little more at ease, but it does not show on her face.
"But I also made one other stipulation..." She injects causing Pepper to raise an eyebrow "something that affects everyone..." She looks away from the monitor toward Scott, then back toward Pepper. "I mean literally everyone. As in the entire universe..."
Elsewhere floating in the middle of space *
"You're an asshole!" Mantis declares teary eyed and waving her finger in Drax's face.
"Mantis!" Drax counters. "I'm a Kylosian. You know this."
"Are all Kylosians assholes?" She asks not caring about Drax's confusion.
"No, we are bipedal humanoids." Drax seems confused. "But we do contain assholes, if that is what you are asking."
"I think what Mantis is trying to say is, your face looks like someone's rectum." Rocket interjects.
"Does it?" Drax asks him. He turns toward a somewhat shiny part of the ship's wall to study his reflection. The wall is too dirty to get a very good look. "The changes were somewhat less kind to me this time around." He turns back toward Mantis. "I can see why you might be offended.
Gamora chuckles, catching their attention.
"Don't listen to Rocket." Starlord steps forward. "What Mantis is trying to say is, you're not being a particularly kind Kylosian."
"Is it because of my face?" Drax asks.
"No, you idiot!" She growls. "It's because of her!" She points at Nebula.
Nebula seems a little surprised, but is trying to hide it.
"I fail to see how her actions could possibly make you upset with me." Drax says.
Instead of countering, Mantis begins to growl and whip Drax with the piece of wire she had earlier.
"Ow." Drax says. "Although you are weak, that still hurts."
"How could you be this way?" Mantis asks. "Don't you care how she feels?"
Despite being the main topic of conversation, Nebula looks up, seemingly caught off guard once again. "I'm fine with whatever this situation is?" She turns away, hoping to avoid further discussion.
"Oh, are you?" Gamora asks Nebula. He has a mischievous sneer on his face.
"Yes..." Nebula responds, taking a step back into the shadow of the doorway.
"Don't you love her?" Mantis demands to know from Drax.
Drax looks at Nebula, then Mantis, then Starlord, and back to Mantis. "She is my brother in arms. We are as close as warriors can get."
"That's not what I meant!" She whips Drax again before shoving the wire in his face. "And you know it.'
Drax stumbles back a bit, hitting the wall. "I cannot love another." He tells Mantis. "I'm married, you see."
"You're lying!" Mantis starts hitting Drax again repeatedly.
"Ow! Captain, do something." Drax asks Starlord.
"Oh no! I'm staying out of this." Starlord turns away and goes to sit next to Gamora, who is still smiling. He takes a moment to study his face, and worries about the reality of his own situation also. He chooses to push those thoughts away for now.
"You got yourself into this one." Racoon adds. "With all your MALE BONDING." He does air quotes.
"I fail to see what that has to do with all this." Drax lies.
"That has everything to do with this." Mantis starts hitting him again.
"Mantis, please stop." Drax asks passively. "I believe it is you who is acting like a Kylosian's rectum."
"Allright, that's enough." Nebula steps forward and takes the wire from Mantis. Tossing it to the side. "Why are you all still here?" She snaps at the others.
"I said I was staying out of this." Starlord responds. "I didn't say I wouldn't enjoy it."
Nebula sneers at him, then looks at Rocket. "What she said." Rocket replies. "I mean, what he said." He looks down and mumbles. "That's gonna take getting used to again."
"I am Groot." Can be heard from one of the back rooms.
"You'll understand when you're older!" Rocket shouts back.
"You see!" Mantis tells Drax. "Even though you reject her, she still protects you."
"Mantis, I believe you are imagining things that are not even there." Drax tells her.
"No!" She points in his face, tears begin to form in her eyes. "You love her..." She looks at Nebula, "and she loves you."
Nebula turns away, choosing not to contribute.
"Mantis, I know what it looks like..." Drax starts."
"Don't lie to me!" Mantis reaches for Drax's shoulder. He tries to step back but hits the wall as Mantis grabs hold of him.
The others seem concerned, but no one actually stops her.
"Admit it!" Mantis demands. "You love her."
Drax's face contorts with emotion, but he remains quiet. He turns his face down and shuts his eyes, which are clearly beginning to tear up.
"Say it!" Mantis repeats angrily. Drax looks up at her, then toward Nebula. There is a momentary glint in his eye, then sadness. Mantis pulls her hand away unexpectedly.
"I can't do this right now." Drax says, before turning away and rushing past Gamora and Starlord.
"Drax..." Mantis calls turning and following him for only a couple of steps. "I... I'm sorry..."
Drax pauses and turns back slightly. "It's not your fault." He says before leaving.
"Nebula, I didn't mean to..." Mantis starts.
"I'm fine." Nebula cuts her off. "I'm going back to bed." She turns back toward Drax's room and shuts the door behind her, leaving a very guilty looking Mantis alone with the rest of the crew.
"Wow! That was not what I expected." Gamora says after a long silence. He gets ups and starts dusting himself off.
"You know what captain?" Rocket says, "I take it back. I really did miss things the way they were."
Starlord just shakes his head in frustrated response.